ATKINSON, Thomas, bishop of the Episcopal Church, born in Mansfield, Virginia, 6 August 1807; died in Wilmington, North Carolina, 4 January 1881. He entered Yale College, but left before completing the course, and went to Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, where he graduated in 1825. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced for nine years. He was ordained deacon in Norfolk, 18 November 1836, and priest in the following year. Dr. Atkinson held several rector-ships in Virginia, and was rector of St. Peter's Church, Baltimore, Maryland, at the time of his election to the episcopate of North Carolina, 26 May 1853. He was consecrated bishop in St. John's chapel, New York, 17 October 1853. Bishop Atkinson was an able and efficient administrator of his diocese and prominent in the councils of the Church. In 1873 he was given an assistant, Dr. Theodore Benedict Lyman, who succeeded him in 1881.